


Last Words

by loopyhoopyfrood



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Soulmate AU, probably more hurt than comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-05 21:55:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loopyhoopyfrood/pseuds/loopyhoopyfrood
Summary: It's been a long time since Phryne stopped relating the sound of her name to the letters on her collarbone.Jack makes the connection straight away.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for the May hurt/comfort challenge. This fic is another soulmate AU (what can I say, I love them) where you're born with the last words your soulmate will ever say to you written on your skin.  
> Enjoy.

“Phryne-”

It’s been a long time since she stopped relating the sound of her name to the letters etched on her collarbone, and this instance is no different. She barely hears him anyway, his voice overshadowed by the roaring of the engine and the whirring of the propeller, and so her mind fails to make the connection as she swings herself into the pilot’s seat. She refuses to look down as the plane gathers speed, refuses to look back at the man whose kiss she can still taste on her lips.

It isn’t until she’s undressing in an unfamiliar hotel, her father already asleep next door, that her gaze lingers on the word decorating her skin. For a moment she wonders, but the implications are too many and too dangerous, and if she pulls on her robe more quickly than usual she refuses to acknowledge it. She hasn’t considered the idea of a soulmate with any seriousness in decades, and she refuses to start now.

Lettering covered, she turns her mind from thoughts of soulmates and last words, and from the possibility that she would never admit terrifies her more than any criminal ever could. By the time she takes to the skies the next morning, she’s forgotten all about it.

Jack makes the connection immediately.

He watches as she flies away, his heart frozen and a lump in his throat that threatens to choke him. Her parting words echo in his head, words that he knows are her own unique way of telling him what he barely dared hope for, but all he can feel is horror. His frantic drive to the airfield was meant to be a beginning, a chance for him to finally stop being a coward. It wasn’t meant to be his last.

He’s still stuck watching the sky long after her plane has disappeared, long after he should have returned to the station that he left without a word of explanation. Somehow he’s ended up on the ground, the solidness of his car door the only thing holding him up. It’s only when the rain starts that he forces himself to move, getting to his feet before sliding into the driver’s seat. He doesn’t remember the drive back to the station.

It’s not until he’s in his own home, the afternoon having somehow passed despite the numbness, that he can face rolling up his sleeve. It takes several generous measures of whiskey, but eventually the letters etched in black on his forearm are uncovered. It’s another few glasses before he can face reading them. He knows the five words off by heart, they’ve been a part of him since birth, but there’s an irrational part of him that seems to think if he doesn’t read them, if he refuses to look, then maybe he can convince himself his memory is wrong.

It isn’t.

When Mac arrives three days later, her eyes red, she finds him with bleeding knuckles and a hole in his office wall. The newspaper that had informed them of a plane crashed down over the Indian ocean lies crumpled in a corner, having only served to confirm what he’s tried so hard to deny. His hands shake as she cleans his wounds, and when she tries to convince them both that the casualty might not have been Phryne he doesn’t speak. Instead he pulls his hand from her grasp and rolls up his sleeve to show her the last words his soulmate had ever said to him.

“Come after me, Jack Robinson.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for the comfort. Sort of. Sorry.

“I love you.”

He doesn’t respond with words as he lies next to her, instead slowly brushing an errant strand of her grey hair back behind her ear before placing a gentle kiss against her lips. His hand moves down her neck, and almost unthinkingly he finds his thumb caressing the lettering on her collarbone. She returns the gesture, running her fingers up his arm to gently trace the words that once brought him so much pain. It’s been decades since that day in the airfield, but he still can’t help the lump that rises in his throat.

“I’m sorry Jack.”

His thumb ceases its movement and he places another kiss against her lips. They’ve had the same conversation a thousand times, and he’d long ago convinced her to stop blaming herself for failing to notice. It took longer for her to stop flinching every time he called her by name.

“You weren’t to know.”

He’s said the exact same words before, sometimes in comfort, sometimes in exasperation. Now, both acutely aware that she’ll never hear him say it again, their conversation seems to take on new meaning. Jack always thought he’d be the first to go, never able to imagine Phryne anything other than joyfully alive, but the years have caught up to them both.

They both know that this is the end, her grip on his hand is weak and each of her shallow breaths seems to take more effort than the last, but neither of them will acknowledge it out loud. Jack doesn’t know what he’ll do after tonight, the day having long passed when he was able to imagine his life without her, but ever since she walked back into his office after first saying those words to him on the airfield, he has been grateful for every extra moment spent with her.

“I should have realised.”

“Phr-”

“Don’t.” She barely has the energy, but slowly she moves her hand to place a finger against his lips. For a moment he’s confused, but then her eyes drop to where his thumb still rests on her exposed collarbone. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t cry, knowing it’s the last thing she would want, but at her gesture he almost gives in.

“I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates, Miss Fisher.” He’s attempting light-hearted, but his voice cracks on the word _soulmate _and the softening of her gaze tells him she’s noticed.__

__“I’m still not sure I do.” She’s never loved anyone like she loves him, never had anyone know her so well and so thoroughly, and yet she still finds herself unable to hold his gaze as she whispers her final confession._ _

__“I can’t face the idea of it being anyone else.”_ _

__He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t need to. Instead he pulls her into him, one hand cradling her head as it nestles into his shoulder, the other wrapping around her waist as she leans against him in the way that has become intimately familiar, and yet no less comforting as the years have passed. Her tired body rests on him, and she finds herself thinking that despite the thrill and excitement she has lived her life seeking, there’s no better place she’d rather end it than here, peaceful and safe in the arms of the man she loves, and who loves her in return._ _

__“We’ve had a good life, haven’t we Jack.”_ _

__She doesn’t look up, she isn’t sure she could, but she knows without needing to raise her head that he’ll be smiling, the corner of his mouth quirked in the way it always does when he finds her statement amusing._ _

__“It’s certainly been an adventure.”_ _

__Although she smiles at his word choice, she can’t help the sadness that taints her voice as she responds._ _

__“I’m afraid the adventure’s over now.”_ _

__“Not at all, Miss Fisher,” His hand moves from her waist to softly cup her cheek, and he raises her head to look at her. “You’re simply moving on to the next one.”_ _

__“Come after me.”_ _

__There’s a familiar mischievous glint in her eyes, and Jack knows there’s only one response he could possibly make._ _

__“Say it again.”_ _

__Her eyes close as he’s speaking, and in the pause that follows he feels as if his heart has stopped. Her hand still resting on his arm is the only thing grounding him, the words there the only thing giving him hope that she’s still to respond._ _

__Eventually, so quietly he can barely make out the words, she does._ _

__“Come after me, Jack Robinson.”_ _

__“Phryne-”_ _

__And although he knows she can no longer hear him, the solitary word on her collarbone telling him that death has finally claimed her, he finishes his sentence nonetheless._ _

__“I love you.”_ _


End file.
